First Build (1000-1200)

dlong

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Hi again, after reading several threads about new builds i have come up with a list of hardware for my first gaming build. I will purchase sometime during black friday where hopefully things are cheaper.



Mobo plus Mem combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.289943

CPU plus PSU combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.281851

CPU cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Keyboard/Mouse:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109156

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131148

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Harddrive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

Disk Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

The total comes to about 1,040 before tax and shipping.

Let me know what you guys think. Check for compatability issues, if im missing hardware etc. suggestions for saving money would be helpful. Also im still not sure what GPU to get. i still have about 100-200 in my budget so i have room for movement.

I have been considering:
two 512mb 4850's
two 1gb 4850's
two 512mb 4870's
two 1gb 4870's (or just 1 for now and buy another at a later time)
or
one 1gb 5850

One more thing, the 24" monitor is kinda too big, was looking for a higher quality 22" but couldnt find nething.

Any help is apreciated, thank you

-dlong.951
 
Solution


If the OP has $1040 for the first build and asking how to save some money, why would you increase the budget to the max for CPU power he won't need? Gaming won't benefit from the 860 over the 750 when both are OC'd.

Dlong,

Black friday throws all prices out the window, so I'll talk more in general terms than specific parts picking.

The i5 750 will be more than enough CPU, even if you pick a 5850 and CF it later. That's the best pure gaming CPU for the money out there. If you're doing video/pic editing on a professional scale, then the 860 would be worth considering...

Silmarunya

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I'd go for a PSU made by a quality brand like Corsair or Antec. Other than that, it looks great.

The only major improvement that can be made to this build is, like you already considered, going for an ATI 5850. For gaming, it's a LOT better than a 4870, and it also comes with DirectX11 support, multiple monitor support, low power consumption and less noise.
 

frosty7

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As above, go with a better PSU, a little more money goes a long way in future proofing for dual video cards, or an entirely new build.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&cm_re=corsair_750w-_-17-139-006-_-Product

+1 for ATI 5850, for reasons above.

Noticed you picked a 250 gb HD, up to you because you know your storage limits best, but you could more than double that for 20 bucks or so.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

This one is especially nice i find because it is very fast but quieter than some other drives due to the fact that it has two platters.

If you don't mind sacrificing some speed there are the WD Green 1 TB drives for about 85 on newegg.


Aside from that, looks very solid, i just put together a similar build last week for myself, same ram, cpu, mobo, though the 5850 is on backorder. Anyways, its a solid setup so enjoy!
 

Silmarunya

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If you're in for 500GB, you might like the 500GB version of the Samsung Spinpoint F3. Cheaper and slightly faster I believe.

Of course, if 250GB is enough for you, go ahead. Storage is about the easiest thing to expand later on.
 

Sertac

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instead of one 5850 get 2 4890's
 

lolzololz

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I'd get a single HD 5850. But, if you don't want to wait, go for X-firing 2 4890s (or maybe 2 HD 5770s). I remember looking at benchmarks showing that 2 5770s would perform better than a single HD 5850(with DX11 support). That could be an option if you need this soon.
 

dlong

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thnx all for the replies. Ok i replaced the PSU to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171039

Im still uncertain about video cards.

I think 2 5770's would be over my budget at about 360, so my options are:

1) 2 4870's 512mb "in CrossFire will school the new Radeon HD 5850 when it comes to raw frame rates" (November Best PCIe Cards for the Money) for about 250 dollars.

2) Thus 2 4870's 1gb in crossfire ofcourse would be better than the above for about 300. (on par with 1 gtx 295<--November Graphics Hierarchy)

3) 1 5850 1b has dx11 which will future proof my system for about 300 but wont have as much fps as the above two.

But with a 22" or 24" monitor do i really have to worry about that much fps? Future proofing is looking good atm, cus after this build i dont plan on building another computer for a looong time haha.

And again i wont be buying until the end of the month so i have plenty of time to decide. And to the guy who said nvidia is releasing dx11 cards in a few weeks, is that worth waiting for considering my budget?


-thnx
 

lolzololz

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Those DX11 Nvidia cards are going to be high end. They're way out of your budget. But, their release would yield greater stocks on the HD 5850, and HD 5870 respectively. The HD 5850 would still be your best choice(unless you're fine with DX10).

Edit: The mainstream Fermi cards will not be released until next year.
 

Onyx2291

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I would choose 1 5850 over two 5770s. You may get more fps from the 5770s but I would also consider stability, heat, power consumption etc.

The 5850 should run just about anything on a 22-24" monitor fine. You'll be set with DX11 and later if you need an extra boost you could crossfire 5850s then.
 

frosty7

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I agree, 1 5850 will be much quieter than two 4870s as well if that would affect you, also the heat and power draw may be a concern. ( for me at least) have to remember that the two 4870s might not be faster than the 5850 in certain games, xfire doesn't always give great scaling, so check out benchies for games you are wanting to play and give it a thought before purchasing.
that being said, the 5850 is fast, and will most likely be more than adequate for current and future games on that monitor for a while. and as said above, if at that time you find the performance lacking, you can get another when it is cheaper due to competition from nvidia.
 

overshocks

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use my build as a reference

I only used newegg, but you can use other sites if you can find the same parts for cheaper.
Or if you can find better combos at newegg

Here's an i5 750 build with new monitor

>MOBO+RAM
30 dollar discount
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.289943

>Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf_922-_-11-119-197-_-Product

>CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215&cm_re=i5_750-_-19-115-215-_-Product

>Hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&cm_re=spnpoint_f3-_-22-152-181-_-Product

>Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102857&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-857-_-Product

>Monitor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049


>Optical Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

>Heatsink

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

>Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Total: $1,288.88 Before Rebate

This build gives you the ability to crossfire/sli in the future if new games are more demanding. You could add in another graphics card, the power supply is decent and could handle 2 graphics card.
 

wnysupport

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Solid build, and if you want to go the 860 route - you can save $22 with the HSF case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.281931

 

skora

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If the OP has $1040 for the first build and asking how to save some money, why would you increase the budget to the max for CPU power he won't need? Gaming won't benefit from the 860 over the 750 when both are OC'd.

Dlong,

Black friday throws all prices out the window, so I'll talk more in general terms than specific parts picking.

The i5 750 will be more than enough CPU, even if you pick a 5850 and CF it later. That's the best pure gaming CPU for the money out there. If you're doing video/pic editing on a professional scale, then the 860 would be worth considering, but that doesn't sound like the case here.

Stick with gigabyte or Asus mobos (like you have) if you're going to OC.

As for the monitor issue, if the physical size of a 24" display is too much, there are smaller 1920x1080 monitors that are good. They don't fit into the 22" form factor, but here at 21.5 gives some good choices and cheaper than the 24". 23" is also used for 1920x1080.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010190020%201309846869%201106217860&name=1920%20x%201080

For that resolution, the 5850 is a beast and will do very very well on it. The 5770 does almost as well as the 4870 you have listed originally. Stick with the Dx11 cards for new builds. If you can find a 5850 and in your price range, great, if not, the 5770 is a great choice and if you do CF it now or later, will be a VERY power setup for 1920x1080 gaming. And the savings on the monitor alone will cover the extra for a 2x5770s.

The nice thing about picking an antec case is they are almost always available in a combo with antec PSUs. Cases being a very personal choice usually all do the same job well enough in the budget you've picked. The 300 is a great case and if that's the one you love the look of, then stick with it. Get one you LOVE, you have to look at it for a very long time. Get it combo'd with the earthwatts 650 if you just get the 5770 or a 750w PSU with 4x PCIe power connectors if you get the 5850. Coolermaster PSUs are hit and miss until you get to the higher end PSUs.

Since it doesn't look like you need that much capacity for the HDD, go with the Spinpoint F3 500gb as mentioned already. Using Frosty7s observation of less platters = less noise, the F3 is a single platter at 500gb. So the amount of data in the same area is greater and that effect performance quite a bit. The WD Cav Black is 2x320 platters.

The only other suggestion I have is spend a little more on the mouse. Gaming mice with the extra buttons can make the playing experience a lot better. Hit up Tecmo34s guide, there's a link to Razars site on how to choose a gaming mouse.

Until we see what black friday does, I can't give you prices, but you're in good shape as $1k can provide for a very good modern gaming machine.
 
Solution

frosty7

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Dlong, one thing to note with the ram and that mobo, it auto set the timings to 9-9-9-24, so you will have to change them manually to the correct 7-7-7-21. Also, i purchased from NCIX so this may be different, but in the title of the product it said 1.65V 7-7-7-21, but looking at the g skill website it shows 7-7-7-21 at 1.5V, so not sure if that is a typo or what, but I memtested it at 1.5V with correct timings and it had no problems.

If you aren't sure how to change the timings, don't worry it is quite simple and I'm sure lots of people would be willing to let you know.